Twin Cities add 1,400 construction jobs

One project generating job is a 61,000-square-foot building rising out of a formerly vacant lot at the corner of Chicago Avenue and South Second Street in Minneapolis that will be home to the American Academy of Neurology. (File photo: Bill Klotz)

The Twin Cities area added 1,400 construction jobs between December 2010 and December 2011, according to a new Associated General Contractors analysis of federal employment data.

The Twin Cities, with its 3 percent increase in construction employment, ranked 96th out of 337 metro areas analyzed by the AGC. Duluth was close to the bottom with a 6 percent decrease (299th).

St. Cloud (down 2 percent) and Rochester (no change) were closer to the middle, ranking 224th and 149th, respectively.

Lake County-Kenosha County in Illinois and Wisconsin had the nation’s highest percentage increase (33 percent) and Philadelphia had the highest percentage decrease (7 percent).

Overall during that period, 148 metro areas added construction jobs, 128 lost jobs and 61 stayed even, according to AGC.

AGC says the 4.3 percent increase in construction spending from December 2010 to December 2011 likely fueled the job gains.

“Many communities are benefitting from growing demand from the private sector for new construction activity,” Ken Simonson, AGC’s chief economist, said in a news release. “Unfortunately, too many other areas are still coping with construction employment losses as the overall market remains relatively weak.”